Looking to clear your home of outdated computers, cellphones, televisions or other electronics? Arlington residents can do so for free during a Texas Recycles Day event Saturday.

The annual computer roundup, sponsored by the city, the University of Texas at Arlington and ECS Refining, is from 8 a.m. to noon in the UT Arlington parking lot at the southeast corner of Mitchell and Cooper streets.

Acceptable items also include keyboards, printers, radios, video cameras and VCRs but not large household appliances such as washers and dryers.

Participants must show proof of Arlington residency. For more info, call 817-459-6777.

— Susan Schrock

Christmas cantata slated at Grace Lutheran

Grace Lutheran Church, at 210 W. Park Row Drive, will present a Christmas cantata, And Glory Shone Around, on Dec. 8 at 8:30 and 11 a.m. The program will last about an hour.

The cantata will involve members of Grace Lutheran Church as well as college instrumentalists from the University of Texas at Arlington.

— Shirley Jinkins

Turkey fryers, take note of ‘Grease for Greens’

Arlington residents can get rid of leftover cooking grease and help the city save on fuel costs at the same time by bringing used cooking oil to “Grease for Greens” from 8 a.m. until noon on Dec. 7 at Tierra Verde Golf Course.

The city can use the oil to make biodiesel to fuel lawnmowers, reducing the cost of maintaining the course.

Participants can win a free round of golf.

Residents with more than 3 gallons of used cooking oil can call 817-459-5902 for free pickup during the week of Dec. 2-6.

The city reminds residents to refrain from pouring or rinsing fats, oils and grease down household drains and garbage disposals. Recycle all used cooking oil.

Donated materials are sold at the Friends’ Lobby Bookstore. The funds provide money to purchase library books, equipment and provide community programs.

Donations will be accepted at the information desk, or contact Roland Rangel at 817-571-1368 or gymtique@aol.com.

—Yamil Berard

Job Club for job-seekers

Workforce Solutions of Tarrant County will host a Job Club at the library on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Bonnie Finn Board Room.

The club is designed to assist unemployed or underemployed people in finding job leads.

For more information, contact Kathi Eteaki, 817-759-7912.

—Yamil Berard

BIRDVILLE SCHOOLS

Birdville school district goes mobile

The Birdville school district launched a mobile site this week so that parents and students with smartphones can easily find important information.

District spokesman Mark Thomas said anyone with a smartphone can access the site by going to birdvilleschools.net.

“This is not an app, but the district may consider adding one in the future,” he said. “There is nothing to download; you go to the site on your phone.”

Thomas said the mobile site will allow users to access information such as student grades, lunch menus, high school athletic schedules and the district’s social networking sites. There is also a link that will take users to the main website for the school district.

Thomas said the district’s social media presence is also growing with 11,000 followers.

— Elizabeth Campbell

HALTOM CITY

Native Texas Demonstration Garden debuts

Residents can learn how to improve their landscapes and save water by visiting the new Haltom City Native Texas Demonstration Garden.

Located at the Tarrant County College Northeast Campus, at 3201 Friendly Lane, the garden will officially open at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Materials for the garden — a partnership between Keep Haltom City Beautiful and the Haltom City Garden Club — were funded by a grant from Lowe’s Home Improvement that came through Keep Texas Beautiful.

The garden features Texas native and adapted plants, compost bins, a rain barrel and hardscapes, all intended to encourage residents to use easy-to-grow, low-water features in their landscapes.

Some of the materials were left over from other city projects. There are brochures with information about the plants available on site.

— Shirley Jinkins

HURST-EULESS-BEDFORD SCHOOLS

Retired school employees schedule December meeting

Hurst-Euless-Bedford Retired School Employees will hold a Dec. 9 holiday meeting in Bedford.

Holiday donations of personal hygiene items for homeless and low-income students in the school district are welcomed.

A holiday covered-dish luncheon will follow the meeting for all retired school employees and prospective members.

For more information, call 817-571-5705.

— Taylor Prater

HURST

Holidays, benefit cuts strain food pantry’s resources

Mission Central’s Village Food Pantry in Hurst used to serve 10 to 15 families a day as recently as 2010. Now, since federal food stamp benefits were reduced Nov. 1, the pantry sees 50 to 80 families a day seeking help.

Mission Central plans to move from its present 2,000-square-foot facility to a nearby 5,000-square-foot space to accommodate the larger number of people awaiting assistance, but that will require $250,000 in donations.

Mission Central is a nonprofit charity founded by First United Methodist Church of Hurst in 1996, but it became an independent nonprofit in 2003.

The Village Food Pantry and its Village Garden provide groceries and fresh produce to 450 families a month from Hurst, Euless and Bedford, though its mobile food pantry serves all North Texas cities. This year, 615 volunteers have already amassed 17,375 hours of work to keep the organization going.

Mission Central also operates after-school tutoring for students and GED exam preparation for adults.

Donations to Mission Central’s 2014 Campaign for Growth can be made via the website at www.missioncentraltx.org or in person or by mail to Mission Central, 732A E. Pipeline Road, Hurst, TX, 76053.

All donations are tax-deductible.

— Shirley Jinkins

KENNEDALE

Students donate more than 4,600 cans of food for needy

Students at Kennedale’s James F. Delaney Elementary School collected 4,627 cans of food this week for distribution to needy families.

Delaney Elementary holds a canned food drive every year before the Thanksgiving holiday, but the school hit a record this year with the number of cans collected.

“We are extremely proud of the immense number of cans our students, families and staff have come together to collect and donate. Last year, our goal was to collect 2,000 cans. We are thrilled to have more than doubled that goal this year,” said Delaney Principal Katina Martinez.

Students, faculty and families participated in the drive, which began on Nov. 4.

Food collected from the drive is also being used to furnish a full Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a turkey, for eight Delaney families.

Members of Bisbee Bible Church picked up the cans Thursday for distribution to the community.

— Shirley Jinkins

SOUTHLAKE

High school students create nonprofit benefiting homeless

Three Carroll High School students created a local nonprofit organization benefiting the homeless in North Texas.

NotLess.org, created by Abby Detrich, Eric Hassett and Zach Saxion, pays for care packages by selling shirts and taking donations.

Packages consist of basic necessities like clothing and toiletries and are equivalent to the cost of one shirt.

The teens started the initiative through their own savings and created a website for anyone interested in donating.

McDonald’s of North Texas is celebrating the company’s Give a Hand campaign today by distributing 700 Happy Meal Books to parents attending the 4:30 p.m. production of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.

Give a Hand is an annual November fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities. Restaurant customers may donate a hand in $1, $3 and $5 denominations.

All money collected in the restaurants for RMHC is split, with 75 percent going to Ronald McDonald House of Dallas and Fort Worth and 25 percent going to the national RMHC. Last year, Give A Hand raised $4.5 million nationally.

More than 4,000 Happy Meal Books will be donated in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to literacy programs and events through Dec. 31.

— Shirley Jinkins

JFK’s Fort Worth ride to visit the city again today

The white 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible used during President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Fort Worth 50 years ago will once again be on the city’s streets this morning.

The car is on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, 6911 Lemmon Ave. at Dallas Love Field, through this weekend.

The car was designated “Limo One” as it transported Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally from the Hotel Texas to Carswell Air Force Base, where they boarded their short flight to Dallas on the morning of Nov. 22, 1963.

This morning, the car’s current owner, Jim Warlick, will be at the hotel, now known as the Hilton Fort Worth, for a chamber of commerce breakfast commemorating the event Kennedy attended 50 years ago.

Also present at the breakfast will be former House Speaker Jim Wright and Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who jumped onto the back of the president’s limousine seconds after the fatal shots in Dallas.

After the breakfast, the convertible will be returned to the museum, where it will be on exhibit through Sunday with a 47-foot replica of Air Force One, a Boeing 707 fuselage refurbished to resemble Kennedy’s plane in 1963.

The automobile has had the original engine replaced and body work and paint done, but most of the interior, including the red leather seats, is in its original condition.

Admission for the exhibit is $10 for museum members, $12 for nonmembers and $7 for children 3 to 17.

Zonta Club of Fort Worth on Dec. 10 will present its “Zonta Says NO” exhibit about gender-based violence in Texas.

The exhibit will display a pair of shoes representing the 114 Texas women killed in 2012 by their intimate partners, as well as five pairs of children’s shoes to represent the children slain with them.

The free outdoor exhibit will be in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse on Weatherford Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Information about each woman and child will be included in the exhibit.

The first 200 people in attendance will receive an orange “Zonta Says NO” wristband.

Monday starts the 16 Days of Activism global campaign to raise awareness about gender-based violence on an international level.

Historical maps posted on the Texas General Land Office website make good gifts for anyone who loves Fort Worth and the Lone Star State. Best of all, proceeds from the sales go toward preserving historic documents.

Since the office receives no funding for preservation of its historical documents, sales of copies helps raise money for the cause.

Online orders during December are said to constitute the biggest annual funding for the preservation effort.

A perennial top-seller is an 1845 commemorative map showing the full size of the Republic of Texas when it stretched up to present-day Colorado. Another favorite is an 1889 map that shows present-day Texas, decorated with period advertising around the margins.

A bird’s-eye view map of Fort Worth from 1886 and a Fort Worth city map from 1919 are local favorites.

Hundreds of maps can be viewed at www.savetexashistory.org. Click the “search entire catalogue” button to go to the archive of over 80,000 city, county and state maps. Once on the archive page, select the "Bestselling Maps" search filter in red to see a set of more than 200 attractive maps selected to be reproduced as gifts.

Most maps at www.savetexashistory.org cost about $20. Online and phone orders before 5 p.m. Dec. 20 can be delivered by Christmas Day.

Orders can also be called in directly to the Archives and Records Division of the Land Office at 800-998-4456.